He remarked: "Obviously when a player goes away on international duty he wants to play and if that's the way things are we have to accept it.

"But if there was a sizeable compensation for clubs in case of injuries, the medical staff at national teams might think twice before sending a player who had a slight problem in the last training session onto the pitch.

"But he'd got over that problem so I understand why he played for his national side the next day."